Australian nurse quarantined for suspected Ebola infection

According to The Australian, a 57-year-old nurse was quarantined in Cairns, Australia, because she showed signs of suspected Ebola infection after returning from Sierra Leone, one of the outbreak areas in West Africa.

According to WHO, 8,000 people have contracted Ebola so far.

The nurse, named Sue Ellen Kovack, previously worked for the Red Cross at a hospital treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.

She returned home on October 7 and self-isolated at home. This morning (October 9), she developed a slight fever and checked into Cairns Hospital at 1pm the same day.

Authorities said test results will be available later today (October 9) or tomorrow morning (October 10).

“In line with national guidelines, the patient has been self-isolating at home and checking her temperature twice a day since returning to Australia. She has a temperature of 37.6 degrees,” Queensland Health Minister Dr Jeanette Young said, according to The Daily Telegraph.

According to her, those traveling with the nurse on the plane from Sierra Leone to Australia were not at risk of infection even if she was indeed infected.

“Although Ebola is a very serious disease, it cannot be transmitted through coughing and sneezing. Passengers on the same plane need not worry at all because she showed no symptoms when flying back to Australia,” Ms Young said.

Researchers are still searching for a cure for the deadly Ebola virus.

"The risk of infection is extremely low if there is no direct contact with body fluids from an infected person or animal, such as blood or vomit."

Australia has previously controlled three other suspected Ebola cases. On September 23, a woman was released from quarantine after testing showed she was not infected.

The woman had been to a conference in Africa. The other two cases were a 1-year-old baby and a man who had been to Africa. Both were fortunately free of Ebola.

In response to the Ebola outbreak, the United States and Canada have increased screening measures at airports.

According to information from the World Health Organization, the Ebola virus epidemic continues to increase in both the number of cases and deaths in 6 African countries, with 01 confirmed Ebola case in the US and 01 confirmed Ebola case in Spain.

From December 2013 to October 9, 2014, 8,104 cases were recorded, including 3,908 deaths.

The report recorded 409 cases of medical staff infected with the disease, including 240 deaths.

According to Infonet